Japanese Consumer Electronics Juggernault Yamada Denki Tries Out Bitcoin (BTC) Payments
Japanese giant consumer electronic retail chain Yamada Denki is trying out cryptocurrency payments. According to a recent report, the Japanese retailer has teamed up with the bitFlyer cryptocurrency exchange to try out Bitcoin (BTC) payments. The firm is initially piloting the bitcoin payment system in two of its retail locations.
The partnership with bitFlyer highlights the increasing cryptocurrency-related partnerships in different industries as wells as the rapid adoption of blockchain technology. Yamada Denki is currently testing out bitcoin payments in the Yamada Denki Labi and Concept Labi retail outlets located in Tokyo. The Japanese firm plans to launch the bitcoin payment option in all its retail locations if the testing proves successful.
A statement by Yamada Denki read: “In addition to diversifying [our services], we will implement initiatives to improve bitcoin recognition and usage promotion."
The announcement is quite surprising considering that some of the companies that had previously been accepting bitcoin payments have been shying off or halted bitcoin payments. This is due to the highly volatile nature of bitcoin over the past few months. Yamada is taking a different approach to the bitcoin payments. This involves creating a settlement limit of bitcoin worth roughly $2,760 or about 300,000 Japanese Yen for each individual account.
Yamada Denki is not the only Japanese firm that is making such moves. Another electronics retailer in the country known as Bic Camera made a similar move when it announced the testing of bitcoin payments in April last year. It also teamed up with bitFyer and later in July announced plans to roll out bitcoin payments in all its stores throughout Japan.
A department store chain called Marui which is also based in Tokyo also carried out similar measures in August last year at one of its stores located in Shinjuku. All these firms adopting bitcoin as a form of payment in their stores represent the wave of bitcoin payment adoption in the country. A lot of people in Japan seem to be opting to use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over traditional cash. It also points to the fact that bitFlyer has been busy at work facilitating successful rollout of bitcoin payments in the country.
The adoption of cryptocurrency has mostly been due to the flexibility that digital currencies have been offering over fiat currencies. In Yamada Denki’s case, the adoption of bitcoin payments represents the ability to attract more customers. The Japanese firm sells a wide variety of products ranging from computers, smartphones, tablets, cameras and other electronic and non-electronic items.